Case Of The Innocent Iris: The Conclusion

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. I sat in front of Rae's home computer reading through some E-mail to pass the time, and then decided to check a few popular websites for news. I clicked around in Internet Explorer and by reflex entered Rae's browsing history. After reviewing the last five entries, my mind was made up and my theory confirmed. The clock on the wall in Rae's living room announced the arrival of a new second with an unnerving metallic sound. I compared the time on my watch several times in anticipation of an inevitable confrontation that was about to take place. "Who forgot to lock the front door again?" Rae bellowed as she entered the living room. "You still here? You have nothing better to do?" she asked sarcastically as she caught my stare. I got up from her computer chair and walked towards her. "Funny you should mention that. I canceled a number of important things so I could be here for you Rae. And now I'm wondering if I've been wasting my time." I replied. Rae dropped her eye contact and slowly walked into her bedroom. "What the hell happened to my bedroom? You guys have a party while I was gone?" Rae nervously joked. "Cut the crap." I said sternly. "You owe me an explanation and an apology." Rae stood with her back to me for what seemed to be an eternity. She placed her purse on her overturned bed and slowly turned to face me. "Explanation for WHAT?" I removed the chain of custody bag from my pocket and, while holding the top with my fingers, allowed the bag to unravel to reveal the former guts of her cat's toy. "That's not mine." I was losing my patience. "Of course. It's probably your brother's, right? Or maybe a former boyfriend's? Or maybe your cat has a problem and we should perform an intervention right now? Here kitty kitty! Mommy needs to talk to you because she loves you!" I said in an impatient tone. "How can you accuse me of such a thing? After all I've been through recently, you're throwing this back on me now because you really can't find out what's going on?" Rae fired back. "This isn't about anyone but you. You've been lying to me and those around you from the start, and as a matter of fact, I DO know what's going on. You can tell the story or I can, it's your choice." I replied. Rae stood perfectly still and stared a hole into the floor. "Fine. I'll tell it. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?" I asked. Rae sat down on the ground and looked at me like a child accused of sneaking into the cookie jar. "You failed the drug test at work and panicked. It should have been no surprise to you that you were going to fail, considering you have several empty drug test boxes in your bathroom's trash can hid under a God awful amount of toilet paper. How are you going to get out of this? You call the one person that you know that has a knack for connecting the dots and presenting a factual case to your employer: me. How am I doing so far?" I asked. Rae sat quietly. "You start doing research on the internet for substances that can produce a false positive on a cocaine drug test, only to find out that it's nearly impossible to get a false positive for such a substance. I found your searches on your computer - it took all of five minutes. Then you find that certain imported products contain trace amounts of cocaine due to their inclusion of raw coca leaves. Ah ha! The perfect alibi. You knew from my previous stories that I'd take a close look at anything that came into contact with you including your food, personal care products, etc. Ironically enough, this was my first clue that you were lying to me." I bellowed. "I didn't lie to you!" Rae exclaimed. "I'm not done. All of the products that I sent to my friend in Las Vegas were tested, and some did contain trace amounts of coca. However, you would have had to ingest several bottles of the stuff right before your test to have a results level as high as you received. The interesting part is that my friend found higher trace levels of cocaine OUTSIDE the bottles than in the bottles - specifically on the lid of one of the larger bottles. Let me be clear that the substance found wasn't coca - it was cut cocaine. Any of this ringing a bell yet?" I queried. Rae stared at me blankly, and her eyes started to water up. "Let's not forget the pee test that you so eagerly agreed to. The results came back showing your level to still be two-thirds of your original testing level. The only way to sustain a level that high is daily usage. You've been using this entire time. And to make matters worse, the real victim in all of this is probably your cat. The cat toy that you hid your stash in under your bed - you know, the one next to the mirror that I stepped on which also tested positive for cocaine - used to have catnip in it. Your cat has been chewing and licking that toy for an unknown period of time. Do you have any idea what even the smallest amounts of a stimulant like cocaine can do to an animal that small?" I asked, my tone growing more impatient with every sentence. The sounds of Rae's sobbing overtook my accusatory ranting. Her face was red with stress and embarrassment. "I need help." - The strangest stories aren't those imagined by ordinary folks. They are tales crafted from real people caught up in real situations, most of which are of their own doing. No matter one's sex, race, creed or color - all are susceptible to the evils of addictions. This story is obviously a tangent from my typical case files. However, it is a perfect example of how investigative skills can cross all categorical boundaries. It also shows that even the most experienced investigator will encounter their most challenging cases not in an empty warehouse, an office building, or a datacenter - but two feet inside their own doors. Rae underwent an extensive rehabilitation treatment, and is still drug free (and addiction free) to this day.
82289-071129-740029-52

"So you get us all again with a 'flashback' storyline and the red herring 'innocent' - you really should go into writing full time when you retire from the security business. Move over Carre, Archer et al...

PS - good to see Rae and the cat ( Iris ??? ) got clean, how about her brother ? "

Wow. That one got me. I figured that she was a victim. That somehow she was getting dosed without her consent. I was wrong. Glad that it worked out the way it did and that she's clean and moving on. One day at a time.

You added the following for my crazy wikipedia searches didn't ya? :)
""Then you find that certain imported products contain trace amounts of cocaine due to their inclusion of raw coca leaves. Ah ha! The perfect alibi.""

Well - fun to know I am good for alibi generation... perhaps I should open up a website called ""ExcuseCentral.com""

In any case, it's easy to forget your stories involve real people - glad to hear she was able to get (and stay) clean.
"

"Wow. I was expecting a twist too! In fact, I'm a bit disappointed. But I always expect people to be better than they are sometimes (I'm an optimist).

But the bit about it being in her hair, I knew deep down that she was probably using it.

I'm glad the cat survived.

Reminds me of a situation with my sister when she was a teen-ager. She had a razor blade sitting around her room. I didn't say a word, but she tried to explain it away. From the way I acted about it she knew I wasn't buying her story. BTW I only knew about razor blades from hanging around cokeheads, but never actually using (unless it was through casual touch or in the air since I was with the cokeheads when they were snorting away). "

"
Thanks for the timely fix, my withdrawal cravings had almost subsided

Ooh, good one! You sucked me in ...

The unexpected twist was ""life imitates life"", or the drug user was a liar.

The thing I like about this story is that it reminds us that the ""system"" (drug screening in this case) works and often the accused really is guilty.

Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to the next one.
R "

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Ken Crosby

November 29, 2007 03:18 PM

Good luck with that! Relapses are common as the mind will always want for the effects. I used many drugs in my younger years and have been clean for over 15 years and still get the taste of meth in my mouth on ocasion whenever I am conjested.

Just have to take it one day at a time.

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Chief Monkey

November 29, 2007 02:57 PM

"To answer some questions...

Rae is doing fine.

Cat survived (I have no idea how).

Brother moved out - he was using as well, which made it hard for Rae to say 'no'. I personally helped carry his stuff out. :-)

Rae kept her job on probation for a year, and is still there to this day! "

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Chief Monkey

November 29, 2007 02:33 PM

"Stay tuned...

Next case file going up soon...

""Case Of The Robotic Reflex""

Much to Scrap's displeasure, it's not about the adult film industry.

:-)

Sorry I've been so busy folks - thanks for hanging in there! "

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BlueKnight

November 29, 2007 01:13 PM

"Wow, what a finish Chief! It didn't end up the way I thought it would, but your conclusion was super. An excellent reminder on the facets of investigation also. "

It goes to show that you need to be careful about making assumptions and need to keep an open mind. It had to be tough wanting to think that your friend is not doing drugs and that belief can blind you to the truth.

"Chief, among all your case files this one stands out as a human interest piece like no other. Like Travis, I was hoping for a twist. I have experience with what happens when people have addictions to cocaine, methamphetamines, and other drugs. It is not pretty. Hopefully her brother got counseling as well. And lets not forget poor kitty cat. I imagine that kitty went to rehab too? "

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tws01

November 29, 2007 10:17 AM

"Wow - after reading all the previous stories leading up to this one, I had assumed that something would have shown her as the victim, but everything thing you described before was pretty clear. I was just hoping for a twist. I'm glad that everything worked out for the best and the story is now moving forward for the better. "